News

San Mateo High School Uses Innovative Device to Stop Cell Phone Use

Mon, 08/26/2019

San Mateo High School has become the largest school in the country to employ something called a Yondr pouch — a cell phone sleeve with a locking mechanism that prevents people from using their phones while keeping them in their possession.

San Mateo High has implemented the policy for the new year after noticing that too many students were being distracted by their mobile devices during school hours.

“Each classroom has an unlocking device,” ABC 7 reports. “Students put their phones into their pouch in the morning and it's unlocked by a teacher, at the end of the day.”

San Mateo High has received tons of positive feedback. The pouches could eventually show up at schools throughout the entire district.

Cell phone distraction has become an increasingly common phenomenon in schools. In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 272 into law, which calls on all schools to develop policies restricting phone use, including outright bans.